Chandrapuli

Chandrapuli is a sweet Bengali confection whose shape recalls the moon. One form combines grated coconut with reduced milk, which is pressed into a mould to make a half-moon shape. It is also described as a sweet made around Bijoya Dashami, after the autumn festival. The owner of a long-established sweet shop in Kolkata names chandrapuli, made by combining coconut and koya and pressing a pattern into it, as one of the offerings the shop takes orders for during Durga Puja.

Packing Coconut and Milk into Moulds

Coconut and koya are mixed in a pan, then sugar and cardamom are added and the mixture is cooked over low heat. Once the sugar has dissolved, the mixture is cooled, packed into moulds and shaped. The reduced milk binds the mixture, in which bits of coconut remain, and the mould’s pattern is imprinted on the surface.

In another household’s method, chhena, made by curdling milk with acid and draining off the liquid, is kneaded with koya and sugar and heated to drive off excess moisture. After it has cooled, coconut and cardamom are mixed in and it is pressed into moulds. One example described in an academic paper adds a small amount of edible camphor, but this ingredient is not required for every chandrapuli.

A Form Wrapped in Rice Flour, and a Sweet Recorded in Poetry

The same name refers to a different form in the Barishal region of Bangladesh. There, a rice-flour dough is wrapped around a filling of coconut and concentrated milk, folded into a half-moon, decorated along the edge, and then fried or steamed. Its structure differs from that of the moulded milk sweet, and its shape is closer to wrapped sweets such as dudh puli.

The Bengali-language newspaper Anandabazar has introduced a passage from the narrative poem “Manasa Mangal,” dating from around the 17th century. In the scene, a mother reduces milk for her son and makes chandrapuli in a patterned mould. The name and the moulded sweet depicted in the poem connect with today’s tables, but not every detail of the recipes of that time is known.

Glossary